T20 WC PIX: Pakistan ease past Canada to stay alive

Images from the T20 World Cup match between Pakistan and Canada, in New York, on Tuesday.

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Pakistan's batters finally rose to the occasion to beat Canada by seven wickets in their must-win Group A T20 World Cup match and give their campaign a boost, in New York, on Tuesday.

The victory lifted Pakistan to third in the group standings, behind India and the United States in that order.

Opting to bowl, their bowlers, led by a superb showing from Mohammad Amir, produced a unified display to restrict Canada to a modest 106 for 7.

In reply, opener Mohammad Rizwan and skipper Babar Azam took Pakistan over the line with 15 balls to spare.

Rizwan and Babar shared 63 runs for the second wicket to set up the platform for victory.

Babar scored a run-a-ball 33, which included a six and four, while Rizwan once again played the role of anchor in the small chase, scoring 53 not out, which included two fours and a six, from as many deliveries.

Pakistan did appear to be making heavy weather of the modest chase as they crawled to 28 for 1 in the powerplay, the Canadian seamers doing a fine job.

However, run-scoring became easier when Canada's spinners came into the attack.

With their vast experience, Babar and Rizwan brought the equation down with deft rotation of the strike and punishing the bad balls.

Earlier, Aaron Johnson was the lone bright spot in Canada's batting department as the others failed to impress.

On a two-paced wicket with the occasional uneven bounce making the rest of their batters struggle, Johnson waged a lone battle for Canada with a 44-ball 52, studded with four sixes and as many fours, even as the Pakistan bowlers kept chipping away with wickets.

While Amir was the pick of the bowlers with 4-0-13-2, Haris Rauf returned 2/26 while Shaheen Shah Afridi (1/21) and Naseem Shah (1/24) recovered well after wayward starts.

Johnson, the only Canadian batter to trouble the Pakistan bowlers, did not shy away from attacking on every available opportunity. It was his hits down the ground that caught the eye and he cleared the ropes with brute power even if he did not time them well.

But shortly after having completed his half-century, he perished when he missed connecting one against Naseem Sham and was cleaned up.

With the burly Johnson dismissed at the team's total of 73, Canada were in danger of being restricted to far less or even bowled out, but skipper Saad Bin Zafar (10) and Kaleem Sana (13) took the team past the 100-run mark to give their bowlers a total to bowl at somthing worthy.

The pressure was telling when Pakistan's strike bowler Shaheen began with two full tosses on the pads and Johnson put them away for boundaries.

The opener cashed in again when Naseem began with a delivery moving away, sending it flying over the field on the off-side for the third four.

The first success came through when Mohammad Amir, after being hit for a first-ball four as well, cleaned up Navneet Dhaliwal off the last delivery.

Shaheen returned with a change of ends to have Pargat Singh (2) caught behind by Fakhar Zaman as Pakistan pulled things back by the end of the powerplay.

Imad then produced a direct hit from cover which caught Nicholas Kirton (1) backing up too far at the non-striker's end. This increased further pressure on Johnson, who did all the heavylifting in the top order.

Haris Rauf produced a double-wicket 10th over to have Shreyas Movva (2) caught behind and Ravinderpal Singh (0) caught in the first slip to leave Canada reeling at 54 for five, while also completing 100 T20I wickets.

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